About Old Towne Preservation Association
About OTPA
The Old Towne Preservation Association is a a public benefit non-profit organization formed as an emergency measure in February of 1986 to halt the demolition of historic homes that was erasing the history of this great city and the charm found in Old Towne Orange’s more than 1400 homes and businesses built before 1941.
It was OTPA who petitioned the State of California in 1997 to designate Old Towne as a Residential Historic District, placed in the National Registry of Historic Places. This makes it the largest, contiguous residential historic district in the State of California. OTPA’s constant efforts since its creation have protected and preserved Old Towne’s historic heritage and ensured that the rich tapestry of side-by-side historic homes remains.
OTPA works to maintain the historic integrity and economic viability of the area through education, community involvement, and service projects which support the concerns of Orange residents in preserving this neighborhood for future generations.
Our Preservation efforts covers City Council, Design Review Committee, Planning Commission and Code Enforcement meetings, speaking up on projects contrary to the Historic Preservation Design Standards and educating the public. These are the City’s regulations and codes regarding our Historic Districts, that keep Old Towne a rare pocket of yesterday’s charm. Old Towne enjoys high property values, our kids go to quality schools, our streets are safe, we walk and dine around a charming Plaza and we pledge that OTPA will work to keep it that way, with your help and contributions!
OTPA Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is historic preservation and why is it important?
Preserving our historical heritage is vital. While preservation itself relates to many subjects, it goes without saying that preserving this country’s landscapes, historic buildings, various traditional and/or ethnic customs, tangible artifacts, important documents, and so forth all make up a rich tapestry of our history as a people. By respecting and preserving this legacy we demonstrate a sensitivity to that history. It is a monument, in mind, body, and spirit by which will be judged by future generations. It also serves as a lesson to those that will come after us…that our “roots”, our sense of place and belonging and community are all the things worth looking after…the things worth saving.
Consider also what California’s State Historical Safety Code contends…
Historic preservation is not “frosting”, “fluff” or “fad”. It is tested and sound social, economic and environmental policy. Communities fight for the tourist dollar; and tourism centered around our historic legacy is the fastest growing segment of that industry.
Historic preservation affirms environmental sensitivity: Just think of the many railroad tank-cars full of fuel required to bake—for a full week—the countless bricks that make up a vintage building. How much more respectful of our earth and its resources to conserve that huge investment in non-renewable fuel, rather than to consign it, along with all that labor and all those materials, to a non-biodegradable heap of landfill.
2. Do you need to live in the Historic District to join OTPA?
Absolutely not! Anyone can join and support the OTPA as a Member and we offer several low cost membership options for households or businesses and organizations to easily join! We also offer multiple committees year round that you can volunteer on as well.
3. How do you get an OTPA historic plaque for your home?
Acquiring a historical plaque endorsed by The Old Towne Preservation Association (OTPA) is an easy process but does require some work on your part prior to receiving your plaque. There are many details to research and review, so patience and perseverance are helpful tools. The payoff is that you will be rewarded with valuable insight and information about your beloved home! We invite you to look at the detailed plaque information page for step by step instructions!
Do you have questions related to Old Towne preservation issues or the OTPA? Send us an email at Info@OTPA.org and we’ll get back to you!
Additional OTPA Resources
“OTPA is dedicated
to its mission of protecting and preserving the tapestry of historic homes and structures in Old Towne, the largest Residential Historic District in California.”
— OTPA Co-Founder & Board President Rob Boice
Dale H. Rahn, OTPA Founder and First President gives the following account of how it all began…
” ‘If you don’t do it, nobody else will.’ Those were challenging words to me in January of 1985. Neighbors next door to Chapman University (then Chapman College) posed that statement to me when I met them about organizing the community to protect our neighborhood. I considered that challenge over the next two weeks. I contacted some other fledgling preservationists in the Old Towne community I had met over the successful fight to save the Welch House and its three other neighbors from the Library expansion the year before. I made a flier and invited five people whom I considered supportive, with driving personalities, in this new venture.
On the last Saturday in February this group consisting of myself, Robert Boice, Laren Gartner, Tita Smith, Bill Trousdale and Russ Barrios met at Watson’s Drug & Soda Fountain for breakfast and hatched an organization with a community meeting scheduled for mid-March. We each put in $20.00 seed money and an organization initially called “Voters for Old Towne Preservation” was born. We met on March 20th of that year with a huge overflowing public response at the Library Community Room. Over the next few weeks, with the power of the community behind us, we gathered others to our cause. We also changed the name to Old Towne Preservation Association. Our wish was to have it spell something but to no avail, we stuck with OTPA.
Those early years were acrimonious to the established power structures in the city, but with new ideas and a far more creative vision we persevered. We cared little for politics and we had even less concern for establishing another organization. I would say we had a missionary zeal and not a care for what others perceived us to be; we were brash and assertive, sort of street fighters. Many organizations go through a similar infancy process and mature, as OTPA has, into a multi-faceted, multi-cause group. The years have been good to OTPA; a sign of dedicated people committed to the treasure the Southland now calls, Old Towne Orange.”
We give many thanks to the original OTPA Co-founded in 1986 by:
Russ Barrios
Rob Boice
Laren Gartner
Dale Rahn
Tita Smith
Become an OTPA Member
Supporting OTPA by joining as a Member provides you with exclusive access to Members only events, early notification of public events, an insiders knowledge of Preservation issues and expertise, and your low annual fee allows the Old Towne Preservation Association to continue our important Mission work to Preserve, Protect and Enhance California’s Largest Historical District, Old Towne Orange!